The Definitive Guide to Comedy
Pete Holmes is one of only two people who have called me “Sean L.” in everyday conversation, and it makes perfect sense. Holmes is a comedian who loves the sounds of words. Sean L. becomes Shonnelle, which bequeaths me an alter-ego. In his previous stand-up comedy specials, Holmes has invited …
Vir Das got America’s attention with his first Netflix special, last year’s Abroad Understanding. Filming it in a small theater in New York City, then cutting it together with footage of him performing the same material in an arena in India, we learned that Das is a comedian to listen …
I’ve long held a love/ambivalence about the comedian and actor Russell Brand. On the one hand, Brand holds a world of ideas within his head and a dazzling gift for sharing his ideas and prompting bigger conversations about life and love and everything else. On the other, Brand’s ego and …
Dave Attell has long been one of the top joke-writers and joke-tellers in the comedy game. Turns out he’s even funnier when he has someone else onstage to work off of. Who knew? Attell figured that out a few years ago, inviting comedians onstage to join him in his late-late-night …
Timing may remain the key to comedy, but knowing your audience and connecting with it continues to rank right up there with it. To see Mike Birbiglia in his Broadway debut of The New One, I brought a comedian who not only has performed with Birbiglia, but also is a …
“What a beard!” “He looks like an out-of-shape Civil War general.” Those comments about Jim Gaffigan come, of course, from the comedian himself, in his trademark inner voice that offers commentary during his own stand-up comedy act. And in Noble Ape, released this summer and broadcast for the first time …
I’ve been a fan of Trevor Noah since I first saw him Off-Broadway performing his first one-man show, Born a Crime, in the States. That was before he got The Daily Show and became a more of a TV personality here. When I met and saw him, Noah was still …
All biopics start from a grain of truth, the essential building blocks of the subject, and then weave an imaginative backstory complete with a heartwarming or inspirational narrative arc. A Futile and Stupid Gesture is not that kind of biopic. Certainly, the period piece directed by David Wain does cover …
Erik Griffin played a Vietnam vet in Showtime’s I’m Dying Up Here, but his 2018 stand-up comedy special portrays him as a different kind of AmERIKan Warrior. “There’s a war on comedy and free speech, and I’m a soldier on the front lines,” Griffin tells the audience. Only he’s not …
Cameron Esposito’s 2018 stand-up special, Rape Jokes, raised $20,000 in donations for RAINN in the first two days she featured it on her website this summer. But don’t think or fear that you’re in for an hour of jokes about rape. That’s simply not the case. Esposito has delivered a …
